Westphalian system has had its day

In 1648 warring factions gathered in the Westphalian cities of Osnabruck and Munster to negotiate what would become the known as the Peace of Westphalia.

The resulting treaties ended one of the most devastating conflicts in human history, the 30 Years War.

Essentially fought over religion — with one or two side issues — the war turned central Europe into a wasteland. Around eight million people had died, what is now modern Germany had lost 20 per cent of its population.

Food production was disrupted, towns and cities lay in ruins, famine and plague were rampant.

Finally the antagonists, the Holy Roman Empire on one side and a league of Protestant countries on the other, realised this could not go on. A new order had to be established, one based not on religious affiliation, which often ebbed and flowed across regions, but on firmly established national borders.

This in essence is the Peace of Westphalia, based on the concept that a nation’s domestic conduct and institutions are its own affair, into which no other State should interfere.

In 1648 this made absolute sense. Large parts of the continent were in urgent need of reconstruction and it seemed reasonable that rulers would use and care for the populations under their control so this could be achieved.

It was also believed that a series of independent sovereign States would ‘balance themselves out’ so that one nation would never be able to dominate others.

The flaws in this thinking were exposed by the Napoleonic wars of the 19^th century and shattered by the two ruinous world wars of the 20^th. As well, it has been proved time and again that rulers are not necessarily benign towards their own populations.

Hitler in Germany and Stalin in the Soviet Union are prime examples of the atrocities committed by Governments to peoples in territories under their control.

Contemporary examples of the Westphalian doctrine being misused include China and its persecution of the Uyghurs, Myanmar and the Rohingya, Syria and anyone who dares to question the despotic regime of Bashar al-Assad. 

New ways had to be found and in the years after World War II the idea of shared sovereignty began to emerge, initially with the Treaty of Rome that brought into being what later evolved into the European Union.

The concept was simple: If national leaders sit around the conference table — not in response to some looming crisis, but on a regular and continuing basis — they are more likely to thrash out their differences without resorting to grandstanding and threats.

A structure based on familiarity and, indeed, friendship between the representatives of the various participants was more likely to lead to cooperation and willingness to compromise.

It has worked.

In the EU’s 63-year history there has not been a single war within its borders. Given the events of the previous 63 years, this has been a signature achievement.

The example of the EU is being copied at an admittedly much slower pace, in organisations such as the African Union, Mercosur in South America and, until the destructive policies of an America First United States President, NAFTA in North America.

Today this movement towards continental groupings is under threat by a tide of nationalism whose leaders proclaim its failings (and there are many) while conveniently forgetting its achievements.

It is this deliberate misreading of the facts that led to the 2016 referendum in which Britons voted by a narrow margin in favour of ending the country’s membership of the EU.

It is only after three years of preparation for leaving that many of the UK’s citizens realise the huge advantages of membership, and that their very wellbeing and prosperity, taken for granted over more than four decades, is about to be snatched away.

With the Government currently in the hands of a hard-line faction determined to press ahead with withdrawal no matter what, options for a rethink before the leave deadline of October 31 are increasingly limited.

The UK will pay a heavy price for its rejection of economic and political partnership. Westphalia has had its day.